Something to Fear
by Ognonamis
Summary: Henry has released everyone from the dreamscape that he held them in.  Everyone is fine and everything seems to be back to normal but things aren't always what they seem.  1x19 "Nothing to Fear" Tag Please read and review.  I would appreciate it.


Disclaimer: I do not own Mutant X or any of its original characters, settings, concepts, etc. I wish that I did though because that would just be awesome.

_Author Note: So this is just an idea I had after watching the season one episode "Nothing to Fear". I don't know…is it just me or did Brennan seem awfully quiet toward the end of the episode? Well, here is my idea of what could've happened after Henry released them from the dreamscape. This is a Brennan centric fic. The other characters will be in it but Emma will probably have a bigger role than Jesse, Shalimar, and Adam. I am not quite sure where this story will go or what is going to happen just yet but it probably won't be to awful long since it's a tag fic. But who knows…stranger things have happened. Also, I would like to note that I have only seen season one and a couple of episodes of season two so if there is something that isn't right, sorry._

Summary: Henry has released everyone from the dreamscape that he held them in. Everyone is fine and everything seems to be back to normal. Everything seems all fine and well but for one member of Mutant X, things aren't going quite so good.

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Something to Fear

Chapter 1: Sleepless Night

It was two in the morning and everyone was sleeping peacefully. Brennan tried to sleep but an hour after closing his eyes, he awoke covered in sweat. Two hours later, he was still pacing his bedroom. He didn't know what to do or what was going on with him. He had had his share of bad experiences that made his encounter with Henry in the dreamscape look like a walk in the park but for some reason, the dreamscape encounter was something he just couldn't seem to shake.

Brennan walked back over to his bed and sat down. He had to do something to occupy his time. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep again and the others wouldn't be up for hours so he had to find a way to bide his time until then. He threw his head back and sighed. He had to think of something. Then it hit him. When he needed to think, he liked to bounce a baseball off the wall. It helped him concentrate. He grabbed his baseball off his nightstand and pulled his hand back, ready to throw it against the wall when he realized something. He couldn't. It might actually wake someone up and it was way too early in the morning for that. So instead, he settled for just tossing it up in the air and catching it.

As he continuously threw the baseball up in the air and then catching it, Brennan kept catching glimpses of the clock out of the corner of his eye. He stopped what he was doing and stared at it for a minute. It seemed like it wasn't moving at all and for a second there, he could've sworn that it moved backward once.

Brennan sighed loudly in frustration and wound the ball at the wall. It bounced back fast and hit him in the shoulder before he had a chance to catch it. Brennan grabbed his shoulder in pain. "Make a mental note not to do that again." He looked at his bare shoulder and could already see a bruise starting to form. He rubbed his tender shoulder and looked back up at the clock. A minute had gone by.

"Come one, there's got to be something to do around here that isn't going to wake everyone up." He looked around his room, desperately searching for something quiet to do when his eyes fell on his Walt Whitman book. He stared at it for a second, wondering if it would keep his mind occupied enough. He grabbed the book off his bookshelf and opened it up to where his bookmark was and started reading silently to himself.

Brennan only got through one page before he pulled his eyes away from it to look up at the clock. Two more minutes had gone by. He closed the book and set it down on his night stand. The truth was that there really wasn't anything to do around Sanctuary at night but sleep so he lay back down on his bed hoping that he would have better luck sleeping soundly this time. He closed his eyes and before he knew it, he had drifted back to his memory of the dreamscape that he hoped he could avoid.

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Emma awoke with a start. Something was wrong with Brennan. She knew it. She must've connected with him in her sleep because it jolted her awake. She sat up for a minute, staring at the clock which read about twenty minutes after two in the morning. She had only been asleep a couple of hours.

She flipped her legs over the side of her bed and stepped into her slippers. She wrapped a robe around her chilled body and walked to the door. She stood there for a minute, listening for any signs of anyone being awake but all she heard was silence. She cracked her door open, making sure that it wouldn't creak or make any noise and slipped out into the hallway.

It was so quiet in Sanctuary. Hard to believe that anyone could have a hard time sleeping when there was nothing to wake you up. She tiptoed down the hall to Brennan's bedroom door. She stopped and listened again but she didn't hear anyone. She reached for the doorknob. She knew that it was wrong to just barge in on someone without knocking but she was worried that something might be bothering Brennan.

She opened his door up and slipped in without making a sound. When she was inside, she was a little confused. Brennan was sleeping. She walked over to his bed. He seemed to be peaceful enough so why did she get a hit off him in the middle of the night? It was enough to wake her out of a dead sleep. She reached for his shoulder just in time jump back as Brennan shot, bolt upright in bed. He was breathing hard and was soaked with sweat. He looked around his room quickly and then his eyes fell on her still form.

"Emma, what are you doing in here?" Brennan asked between breaths. He looked at his night stand for a second and then looked back at her. "Did I wake you up or something?"

"No." Emma answered quietly. "Well, actually you did but not intentionally." She paused for a second and leaned against the wall. "I got a hit off you while I was sleeping. It woke me out of a dead sleep."

"Has that ever happened before?" Brennan asked with a curious expression on his face. He seemed much calmer now.

"I don't think so." Emma answered. "Brennan, is everything okay?"

Brennan looked like a dear stuck in headlights or more accurately like a kid caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. "Yeah, everything is fine. I'm just having a hard time sleeping."

"You're just having a hard time sleeping." Emma repeated suspiciously. She wasn't sure whether she believed him or not. Yeah, it was true that he was having trouble sleeping but she had a feeling that there was more to it than that. "Are you sure that everything is okay?"

Brennan took a deep breath, clearly relaxed and at ease now. "Emma, everything is fine. You should go get some sleep." Emma nodded and smirked. "Sorry for waking you up though."

"Don't worry about it." Emma said with a smirk. "I guess I'm just a little bit more sensitive to emotions." She glanced at the door and back at him. "See you at breakfast." She still didn't think that everything was fine but she decided to let it go for the time being and go back to bed.

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After Emma left the room, Brennan was dumbfounded. He wasn't sure what to think. Apparently, his dream was enough for Emma to pick up on with her telempathic abilities. He wasn't intending to wake her up with his bad dreams. She didn't seem upset about it though. She actually seemed genuinely worried about him.

Brennan ran his hands through his hair and sighed out loud. "Come on man. You need to get over this. The dreamscape wasn't even real. It was only what someone wanted me to believe." Even though he said the words to himself, he knew that it wouldn't make a difference. He had to find some other way to convince himself that everything was back to normal and not let the memory of Henry's dreamscape bother him anymore.

Failing to figure out what to do, Brennan stood up, stretched, and began pacing his room again. If he kept moving, maybe he would tire himself out enough to fall asleep and stay asleep. After all, he couldn't stay awake forever. As he paced, his mind wandered back to the dreamscape and to what Henry did to him with his own powers. For some reason, it was something that he just couldn't shake. And it wasn't just having his abilities used against him, it was the fact that Henry had him trapped inside his own mind and there was nothing he could do about it.

After about a half hour of pacing his room, Brennan decided that the scenery was starting to get a little boring. He opened his door slowly, making sure not to make any noise. He slipped out the door and looked both ways to make sure that nobody was in the hallway. Emma, who didn't stay in her room either, suddenly appeared in front of him. Brennan jumped back and covered his mouth to keep from yelping in surprise.

"Can't sleep still?" Emma asked with a smirk on her face.

"Emma, what are you doing out here?" Brennan asked, still breathing hard from her jumping him out of his skin.

Emma leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. "I could ask you the same thing." She kind of wanted to giggle at the reaction that Brennan had.

Brennan sighed. "Look, if you're wondering if everything is okay, everything is. I'm fine. I just can't sleep right now."

Emma raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You know, you aren't a very good liar. I know that something is bothering you and whatever it is, it's the reason why you can't sleep." She thought for a second that he was going to say something to her but he didn't say anything. "Brennan, if you talk about what's bothering you, it will help."

"Emma, I'm fine." Brennan answered, a little snappier than he intended. "Look, I'm sorry that I woke you up. I just can't sleep. It's no big deal." Without another word, Brennan turned and went back into his room.

Emma stood there for a second, leaning against the wall, wondering what just happened. She knew there was something wrong because whatever was keeping him up seemed to be keeping her up. She didn't know how she connected with him in her sleep and she had a feeling that if she fell back asleep, she would wake up again when he did.

She sighed and shook her head. She didn't understand Brennan. As a matter of fact, she didn't understand men at all. They would always run and hide when emotions and personal subjects entered the conversation. Brennan in particular seemed to be a bit of a recluse when it came to that. She didn't really know a whole lot about him. She knew that she trusted him with her life but she had only heard him talk about his past a few times the entire time she knew him. All she knew about him was that one of his biggest fears was someone using his abilities against him, that he was jump starting cars at ten years old and that he spent most of his teen and adult life on the streets as a criminal.

Emma turned around and started walking back to her room when it hit her. She stopped dead. "That's it." She whispered to herself. It was the dreamscape that Henry had them all trapped in. It had to be. Brennan had to face his biggest fear. There was a good chance that that was the reason why he couldn't sleep. She thought back for a second to when they were all released from the dreamscape. Brennan seemed awfully quiet. The dreamscape had to be the reason why Brennan couldn't sleep.

Emma smiled to herself. Not that she had an idea what the problem was, she would stand a better chance of helping Brennan. She took a deep breath and walked the rest of the way to her room. Despite Brennan not being able to sleep, she was still tired and was planning on sleeping the rest of the night.

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_Author note: So what do you think? Like? Dislike? I really would love to get feedback on this. I've had quite a bit of trouble with my writing lately. Not sure what is going on but when I work on my original work, it always seems forced. Does this seem forced? Reviews and critique is welcome. Please, no flames._


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